D&D 5E "And remember... no disintegrations!"

[DND_Reborn]

Sadly, this was not the case...

Yesterday we had our session and faced our first beholder! Using its complex system of caves and tunnels and hordes of minions, the beholder wrought havoc on our poor heroes. Although our party was seven-members strong (most 12th-13th levels, but one 7th as well), ultimate victory came with a heavy cost-- three character's disintegrated into piles of dust!

It was an amazing session with tense moments, a strong sense of danger, and the knowledge that victory was more likely denied than achieved.

One member was restored via Reincarnation (dragonborn to mountain dwarf), the others failed to return. The kingdoms mourns their sacrifice.

 

[Hriston]

And the tale is better in the retelling because of it.

 

[Lanefan]

One member was restored via Reincarnation (dragonborn to mountain dwarf), the others failed to return.

Thus showing your world is not my world: it's not a Hobbit.

Over the years there's been three Reincarnations in my current campaign and all three came back as Hobbits.

The odds of that are very slim indeed; slightly worse than 1 in 4600.

 

[DND_Reborn]

Nice!

We implemented the house rule of a d20 check, modified only by the level of the spell cast to return the character to life, with a DC 10. In this case, Reincarnation is level 5 so each player got a +5 to his check. The first made the check, rolling a 7 + 5 to get a 12 and beat the DC 10. The second and third both rolled 1's.

 

[robus]

The second and third both rolled 1's.

Wow, that’s gotta be a real kick in the goolies!

 

[TwoSix]

Ah, the sweet smell of new character.

 

[Eltab]

After encountering a certain room and monster in Mad Mage of Waterdeep, my Tabaxi Monster Hunter Ranger character is going to get a T-shirt to wear in the Yawning Portal during downtime:
I survived being Disintegrated in Undermountain
It helped that this was the first thing that happened after a Long Rest - she was still at max HP when the encounter began and the ahem fur began to fly.

 

[DND_Reborn]

Well, the character who got really screwed was the rogue/fighter.

He lacked proficiency in CON saves (started as a rogue), failed the save versus the Paralyzing ray. Same round was hit by the Petrification ray. Auto-failed the DEX save due to being Paralyzed by the first ray.

On the PC's turn, failed the CON save, so was still Paralyzed. Due to this, auto-failed the DEX-Petrification save, and was completely Petrified (e.g. turned to stone).

On the beholder's next turn, the Disintegrate ray was rolled and he targeted the "now" statue of the PC, instantly destroying it completely. No save, no nothing--just dust.

That is a nasty 1-2 punch to Disintegrate!

 

[Eltab]

Wow - ouch.
Coming soon to a Tomb of Annihilation campaign near you ...

 

[Nebulous]

How long was the fight? Were they ambushed by the beholder? I'd think that many character would have splattered the thing fast by their level. I don't think I've ever actually run a beholder fight, although I did use one as an NPC to scare the players. It worked.